The Book of Ruth: An Introduction (Part 2) – It’s Not How You Start. It’s How You Finish!

The Book of Ruth: An Introduction (Part 2 of 4)
As we continue the introduction to the Book of Ruth this morning, we see in the pages of this book that Ruth was a Moabite woman. She did not let her heritage keep her from worshiping the one true God, nor did it stop God from accepting her worship and blessing her greatly. The people of Israel were not the only people that God loves. God chose the Israelites to be the people from the rest of the world would come to know Him. Jesus fulfilled the promise when Jesus was born an Israelite. Through Him, the entire world can come to know God. Acts 10:35 states that “in every nation He accepts those fear him and do what is right.” God works through those who love Him regardless of their race, gender, nationality, or past history. The book of Ruth is a perfect example of God’s impartiality toward those whose worship He will accept. Although Ruth belonged to a race often despised by Israel because of the constant tension and threat of war between the two nations/groups of people, she was blessed because of her faithfulness. She went on to become the great grandmother of King David and a direct earthly ancestor of Jesus.

The Book of Ruth reminds me that even though I am twice divorced in my past, Jesus can still use me. My past is littered with behavior that was in opposition to God’s design for your life and for mine. I sought approval and personal validation through the approval of the women I chose to be with in my life prior to Christ. I made women and the charms that they offer a man the god of my life and it lead me to a rollercoaster ride of a life and much, much heartache, pain and divorce. When we make a person (in my case whomever the woman was in my life) or an object (sexual relations as validation) the cornerstone of your life, it only leads to destruction. Seeking bedroom approval and letting that rule my life led to making choices that I knew were wrong concerning my kids, concerning money, you name it, that I knew were wrong in God’s eyes but these women were visible and God was not there and not visible to me. I chose worship what was tangible and that which I could touch. All the pain and the heartache that are in my past are very real and there is nothing I can do to change that. In some “religious” circles, I would be considered an enemy of the church. I would never be considered acceptable to some hoity toity church. Could never serve in any capacity. As a matter of fact, I might even be shunned to the point that I would feel uncomfortable and leave the church because of my past. I was, I admit, a hedonistic pleasure seeker before I met Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. All I cared about was how life affected me. All I cared about was how to manage my world so that I could get the best out of it for myself. Sure, I was a halfway decent person. Wasn’t a murderer or anything but my morality was certainly situational as it was whatever preserved what I wanted and needed was the most important thing even above morality. Whatever I had to do to keep access to the charms of the woman in my life, I would do it. If it meant forgetting the difference between right and wrong, the difference between being a good parent and a bad one, I would do it.

I was having a conversation yesterday with the Pastor of Discipleship of my church yesterday and I told him that when I look back on the man that I was before Christ, I am appalled and disgusted. Not that I am any great saint 16 years into my walk with Jesus Christ (the Holy Spirit still got plenty o’ work to do in this here Southern boy), even the man I was 5 years into my walk appalls me. Even the man I was 10 years into my walk surprises me about how little about the depth of God’s justice, love, and mercy that I knew then. I suppose that 10 years from now I will sit and wonder how people would have trusted me with the gospel as the man that I am now at 55. As we grow in Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals to us things along the way. Things that we were blind to five years ago are matters of great conviction and pain now. How weird is that we are blind to our favorite sins but in time the Holy Spirit is able to get us to see them for what they really are – sin – and how we can no longer hide them or justify them any longer. As we continued the conversation, thank God for the Holy Spirit and thank God for grace of Jesus Christ. Without the work of the Holy Spirit we would be stuck in immaturity. Without Jesus I would be destined to hell because of my past sins that I recognize and my current sins that I ignore or don’t even recognize as sin yet.
But that’s the wonderful thing about our salvation in Jesus Christ and about the wondrous sanctification of the convert by the Holy Spirit. Now, I can celebrate what God has done in me. I can be honest and transparent about my past as it shows the miracles that can be wrought in the presence of the Jesus Christ. My redemption, the man that I am becoming, are all testaments to the power of salvation. It is a change from the inside out. It is not behavior modification. It is real change from the core of who I am outward. My past is evidence of the changed person that I am now. My past is my ministry to those who think that they are too far gone to be touched by the grace of Jesus Christ. My past is my testimony to the wonders of grace. God is using me right now. God will be using me for far greater and greater things for the kingdom as I mature in my walk with Jesus Christ. You are never too far gone and you are never too old to be used by Jesus Christ when you accept Him as Savior and Lord. It is not where you are in the race right now. It is where you finish and how you finish that matters.

That’s the wonder of the Book of Ruth to me is that it shows that no one should feel disqualified to serve God because of who they were in the past before accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. No one should feel disqualified because of where they were born or who they were born to. No one should feel disqualified from God’s work because you did not accept Christ at 2 years old, went to all the right Christian schools, went to seminary, and then married a preacher’s daughter, and then had perfect little preacher kids and that you have been serving the Lord all your life. God can use you right where you are. Your past is your ministry of the miracle of salvation in Jesus Christ. We each are ministers where we live, work, and play. We all have a redemption story. We all have a story to tell. We all have ministries through which we can testify to the might and power of Jesus Christ in our lives. That is what it’s all about. It’s not about your pedigree. It’s not about being the perfect pedigree of church going all your life. It’s not about being a second or third generation preacher. It is not about going to the best church. It is about Jesus Christ. It is about loving God with all your mind, heart, soul and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. That’s what Ruth teaches us. It is about how much you love and obey God. It is about putting Him first in our lives. It is about giving Him glory in everything we do. It is about demonstrating what a changed life looks like. It is about Jesus. Let your changed life through the grace of Jesus Christ be your ministry!